TAKING ON SAN REMO

Mark Cavendish made a sensational Milan-San Remo debut in 2009. It’s a curiosity of his career that his loyalty to the race has never yielded a repeat win. He talks us through his San Remo editions

1 2009

WINNER: MARK CAVENDISH

CAV: 1ST AT 6: 42: 31

Brilliantly shepherded to the front of the peloton at the foot of the Cipressa, Cavendish crested the summit only a few seconds in arrears, bridged the gap and never looked flustered on the Poggio. His sprint has its place in the annals - a breathtaking rimonta to catch Haussler and win by one of the smallest margins in the race’s history, 11cm or “the length of a mobile-phone” as Luca Gialanella put in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Cavendish says: If I had to pick out one decisive factor, only one, it would be George Hincapie. No one drops back on the descent of the Poggio to find and position a team-mate, but that’s what he did. Then the lead-out he gave me was perfect. The whole team was faultless that day, though. Everyone had a job and they executed it perfectly - whether it was taking me into the bottom of La Manie or getting me over the Cipressa.

2 2010

WINNER: ÓSCAR FREIRE

CAV: 89TH AT 6: 12

A tooth infection in January left Cavendish short of form in the run-up to the race. Just making it to San Remo was a feat. But any hope that he might defend his title was extinguished when a crash on the descent of Le Manie split the bunch and cut him adrift. Cavendish says: “I didn’t have the form I needed to win it after the tooth problems. I still started just because it’s one race that you can get through even if you don’t have any form, especially as you get older and you’ve built a bit of an endurance base. You can wing it and finish the race or even be up there in the finale, but unfortunately you can’t wing it and win the thing.

3 2011 WINNER: MAT T GOSS CAV: 52ND AT 5: 23

Bodies tumbled and with them the chances of several pre-race favourites, including Cavendish, on the frantic approach to Le Manie. One benefactor, at least, was the Manx Missile’s team-mate, Matt Goss, who went on to outfox a high-class lead group and sprint to victory ahead of Fabian Cancellara.

Cavendish says: There was a crash in the tunnel at the top of the Turchino and Acqua e Sapone attacked. I was the wrong side of the split but we had Gossy up front so that was a perfect scenario. I’d broken a wheel at the bottom, chased to get back on but then the crash happened right at the entrance to the tunnel, which wasn’t lit. Luckily Gossy was able to pull it off. I was thrilled for him.

4 2012

WINNER: SIMON GERRANS

CAV: DNF

After an apparently perfect build-up, Cavendish had never looked fitter or more confident. There was certainly no one predicting that he would start losing wheels before Le Manie, but this was a San Remo of many surprises, including Simon Gerrans’s victory ahead of Fabian Cancellara.

Cavendish says: Absolutely shocking. I was the world champion and had this dream that I’d win San Remo in the rainbow jersey. I’d done this special diet before the race to lose weight, was in good form, had won in Qatar and Tirreno but on the day I was abysmal. I had no power.

5 2013

WINNER: GERALD CIOLEK

CAV: 9TH AT 0: 14

One of two in his time with Quick-Step that still burn. So icy was the weather when the peloton approached the Riviera that the riders were waved onto their buses, driven down the coast and resumed racing two hours later on the other side of the Turchino. Four Quick-Step riders never made it back out of the bus, including Tom Boonen. Directeur sportif Wilfried Peeters’s decision to gamble on Sylvain Chavanel in what turned out to be the winning break compounded Cavendish’s lack of manpower in the peloton behind.

Cavendish says: Half the team didn’t re-start because of the cold… The plan was that Chavanel would go in the moves on the Cipressa and not ride, but then I hear Wilfried Peeters and Brama [Davide Bramati] on the radio telling him, “Go Chava, go!” He started pulling and I was stuck in the group, just floating. Chava ended up getting fourth and I came second in the bunch sprint.

6 2014

WINNER: ALEXANDER KRISTOFF

CAV: 5TH AT SAME TIME

In the months leading up to the race even this ultimately frustrating result seemed beyond Cavendish’s reach, as the organisers, RCS, unveiled a course featuring the steep Pompeiana climb between the Cipressa and the Poggio. Landslides scuppered the plan, and, having vowed to premiere the climb in 2015, RCS changed their minds and have kept faith with the traditional finale ever since.

Cavendish says: I cramped. I thought I’d win it. I launched my sprint early and it was the first time I’d ever cramped. I had to sit down. Before that I’d always laughed at people who said they’d cramped, thought they were just making excuses. It was frustrating. I thought I had it.

7 2015

WINNER: JOHN DEGENKOLB

CAV: 46TH AT 0: 23

This race was lost not on the Via Roma or even further up the Riviera but, for Cavendish, on a trip to South Africa to visit a team sponsor a fortnight before La Classicissima. Having warned the team’s management that a journey to and from the Southern Hemisphere wasn’t ideal prep, Cavendish fell ill on his return and lost vital training days. A mechanical on the Cipressa, then more problems on the Poggio doomed what had been a brave effort.

Cavendish says: Tom Boonen was supposed to go to South Africa but he said it was too close to Roubaix. My big goal was San Remo; I just told Patrick Lefevere that I hoped he’d bear this in mind when we started talking about my contract, if the trip to South Africa ended up affecting my San Remo. Sure enough I got really ill. The race went better than expected in the circumstances. Unfortunately Reiney [Reinardt Janse van Rensburg] lost a wheel on the last hairpin on the Poggio, I was stuck behind and that was it for me.

8 2016

WINNER: ARNAUD DÉMARE

CAV: 1 10TH AT 4: 25

Having focused on the track in the winter and early spring, and been rewarded with a madison world championship gold two weeks before San Remo, Cavendish was fit but not necessarily for the purpose of a 300km slog. His pessimism in pre-race interviews looked justified when the peloton disappeared over the horizon on the Cipressa. Cavendish says: I punctured twice and spent too much time and energy going back to the team car. It’s a watt-saving game and I’d lost too many. I needed everything to go right and it didn’t.

9 2017

WINNER : MICHAË KWIATKOWSKI

CAV: 101ST AT 5: 24

Illness and a mysterious ankle pain struck at Tirreno-Adriatico the week before and killed the momentum Cavendish appeared to be building with a stage win at the Abu Dhabi Tour in late February. It later transpired that Cavendish had been and possibly would be unwell for some time, as it was announced he was suffering with the Epstein-Barr virus.

Cavendish says: I got dropped on the right-hand hairpin two-thirds of the way up the Cipressa. At the bus that night I was so confused that I decided I had to get a blood test. I went the next day and that’s when I got the Epstein-Barr diagnosis.

10 2018

WINNER: VINCENZO NIBALI

CAV: DNF

A crash and abandon at the Abu Dhabi Tour was followed by another spill and rib fracture at Tirreno-Adriatico. It was, then, a minor miracle that Cavendish could even start San Remo - and a major one that, in his words a few days later, he was “floating” when his luck again deserted him after the Cipressa. The collision with a traffic bollard and somersault over the top thankfully caused the protagonist no serious injuries.

Cavendish says: I know now that I was riding with Epstein-Barr again. After the two crashes and two concussions earlier in the year, and with the virus, it was a miracle that I was going so well. Fortunately, the crash didn’t turn out to be as bad as it looked on TV.